Amy and her friends

Sarah texted me the other night all confused and annoyed about Nocturnal Animals NOT being part of the awards circuit, not really in the Oscar conversation. The film was well-reviewed out of the festivals. It’s an all-star cast. But it feels like it’s almost being ignored.

Anyway, the star of Nocturnal Animals is Amy Adams. Who was just named Best Actress by the National Board of Review. As Sarah noted earlier in her post about Casey Affleck, the NBR isn’t the best at predicting Oscar but it can give us an indication about nominees. You’ve heard over and over again that this is the most competitive Best Actress race in years. Emma Stone and La La Land have been riding a lot of momentum through the fall but Natalie Portman’s in the race and so is Annette Bening and Isabelle Huppert and Ruth Negga too, so Amy’s NBR win (for Arrival, not Nocturnal Animals) definitely helps in terms of swaying the Academy in her favour for a nomination. Maybe that’s why Nocturnal Animals seems like an afterthought? Because they’ve decided to campaign for Amy’s performance in Arrival instead?

An NBR honour isn’t enough though. As we’ve seen year after year from actors who are campaigning, you need friends. Famous friends. They host screenings for you. They show up for you. They present awards to you. On the campaign circuit, some friends are worth more than others. Amy Adams’s friend? Is worth a LOT.

Amy Adams received a career achievement tribute at the Gotham Awards on Monday night. Her friend, Cate Blanchett, presented it to her. You’ll recall, Amy and Cate went out after the Oscars a couple of years ago to get tattooed together. With their spouses. So they’re close, they’re just not Instagram close like the Hollywood Blonde Club (Kate Hudson & Company). They haven’t made their friendship into a public spectacle. But, clearly, Amy and Cate are tight. And, clearly, Cate, this year, is voting for Amy. That is if Amy gets on the ballot. Which is what Cate’s trying to help with.

Click here to read the transcript of Cate’s introduction of Amy at the Gothams. This is Cate Blanchett, the actor other actors are openly in awe of and sometimes intimidated by. And she’s delivering this speech to Amy Adams like the ultimate fangirl, by technically breaking down, skill by skill, with an actor’s experience, why Amy has been nominated for five Oscars, and counting. This is one of the strongest endorsements an actor could ever receive. And no, it doesn’t guarantee that Amy’s going to win or even be nominated but every single actor in that room and every other actor who hears about it afterwards would have wanted to be in the same position, to be talked like this by THE Cate Blanchett. So the fact that it’s Amy? Probably means more for that potential nomination than winning the NBR.